Speak Out 03/12/04

Millions in savings

ABOUT JACKSON'S electric poles: To put them underground would have cost about $3 million, so the city saved millions by putting them aboveground.

Courtroom control

WHEN SOMEONE misbehaves or disrupts courtroom proceedings, the judge orders the bailiff to remove the misbehaving person in order to maintain order. A judge would never tolerate what teachers are expected to put up with every day in their classrooms. If judges didn't have officers of the law to back them up, we'd be seeing duct-tape incidences in the courtroom. Would the judges be punished like the teachers are?

Government meddling

THE MARTHA Stewart guilty verdict is more than troubling. It is an outrage. The case typifies today's government: an entity that is free to intrude in any area of your life, free to make up the rules as it goes along, free to allow prosecutors to make names for themselves in high-profile cases without facing any personal consequences no matter what harm they do. I don't know Martha Stewart and have never seen her TV show. I've never read any of her books or magazines. But I care deeply about the kind of country America has turned into, one in which there is no firm rule of law and anyone can be prosecuted at any time for any kind of offense that the government wants to invent.

Dealing with behavior

REGARDING THE duct tape incidents at area schools: I do not condone the actions of the teachers, but I believe that sometimes students push teachers too far. Students must be taught to behave regardless of any disorders they may have. If students cannot behave due to these disorders, maybe they need to be attending special schools instead of public schools. I applaud the parent from DuQuoin who also placed the blame on her daughter for not behaving and not just blaming the teacher for taping her mouth shut. More parents should be like that. The teacher from Oran who resigned is a highly respected teacher.

No pay, no play

WE DON'T want to discontinue the municipal band. As with other government programs and services, we just don't want to pay for them.

Tired of taxes

I THINK the folks in Cape Girardeau are tired of paying taxes. Just because you put a tax issue on the ballot doesn't mean it will pass. Why raise or create more tax issues when the city doesn't disperse the funds efficiently now?

Deadbeat moms

I WOULD like to know why we don't ever hear anything about deadbeat moms. We hear plenty about deadbeat dads. There are moms out there doing as much damage to kids as dads do, maybe more. We don't hear about the state going after them for failure to support their kids. Is it because dads make an easy target? When is something going to be done to correct this problem?

Goodies for unions

THE "JOBS Now" program that the Gov. Bob Holden and Department of Economic Development director Kelvin Simmons are promoting would put hundreds of millions of dollars into the hands of a nine-person panel appointed by the governor. That panel would decide which projects that money would go to. This is another payment to the unions by this governor.

Tax incentive

COUNCILWOMAN Evelyn Boardman's suggestion that taxpayers be promised the restoration of spring cleanup if the tax passes was not a bribe. It was an incentive.

Tough regulations

WHEN SOCIETY through the government starts threatening purveyors of filth and vulgarity on the radio and TV, it raises the hackles of the Southeast Missourian editorial board. The board calls for self-policing and refers to what some might include the gross stuff on radio and TV as "adventurous programming." Believing that self-policing will work is a pipe dream. Let the tough government regulations begin.

Save it for the news

Why was it necessary to interrupt TV programming to announce that Martha Stewart was convicted? Isn't that what news programs are for?